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books

While I was in Boston, I started posting about the books I was reading. It was significant because I was able to read about a book a week during my commute to and from work. Some people hate public transportation; I saw it as my reading hour.

The month of November got rather jumbled up; I spent more than half of it at home in Cincinnati. That threw me off my read-a-book-while-you-commute pattern, so I stopped posting about books. Nonetheless, here is a sort of catch-up of what I've read. It's a good record for me, and there are some good books that other people might be interested in...

My dad gave me 'A Pearl in the Storm' by Tori Murden McClure. It's the story of a woman who rowed (as in, a row-boat) across the Atlantic Ocean. I thought this was a really great book because she intersperses accounts of her trip with stories from her life, and reflects on everything along the way. This also made it a very easy start-and-stop book; you can read twenty pages, put it down, and come back to it three days later without feeling lost.

I am not sure if it is cheating to list 'Sweet and Low' by Rich Cohen here because I started reading it, but didn't actually finish. It's essentially the story of Sweet 'n' Low, and that part is very interesting. Of what I did read, I enjoyed the raw facts about sugar packaging and processing and the cultural dynamics that brought about the development of an artificial sweetener. There is also a lot of family drama to this story, though, and that made it hard for me to focus and follow. There are just too many names to remember.

'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett is currently somewhere at the top of the New York Times best seller list. My mom read it for her neighborhood book club and then passed it on to me. It's a great book that is exceedingly easy to read. Pick it up at the library, read it, and then we'll talk about it. I really don't want to spoil anything before you get there.

The last book that I read was 'The Accidental Billionaires' by Ben Mezrich. It's the story of how Facebook got started, and it's being adapted into a Hollywood movie at this very minute. This book feels like it is written at a third grade reading level, and the actual story of how Facebook was founded is not that complicated (it could probably be explained in ten pages... I'm not sure how this movie is going to turn out.) Nonetheless, it was an interesting and easy read. I think it's also a valid lesson for me, as I am approaching graduation, that dreams and ideas are worth pursuing. Who knows what the next Facebook will be.